Working with an In-House Doctor Can Improve Residents’ Healthcare Outcomes and Reduce Unnecessary ER Visits

Assisted Living Facilities and Nursing Homes are increasingly burdened with caring for every facet of their residents’ lives, while facing staffing shortages, decreasing budgets, and regulatory constraints. As a result, oftentimes the patients can suffer. In The Medical Profession Is Dead and the Doctor Is Critically Ill! Alan Cato says:

Nursing home patients will experience more new complaints and more frequent declines from their baseline health status, on any given day, than any other patient population. . . . Many of our nation’s nursing home staffs suffer from a lack of onsite doctors for evaluating acute medical conditions of their residents.

— Alan Cato

Due to a shortage of physicians within assisted living facilities and nursing homes, the response to nearly any medical event frequently is to send a patient to the emergency room. These ER visits are time-consuming, extremely costly, and most importantly disruptive and upsetting for patients and their families. As a partner to these organizations, Dr. Spears shares in the responsibility for the outcome of the patient, attending to patients, evaluating patients, documenting his evaluation and treatment plans, and assuaging concerned family members. Dr. Spears’ experience and expertise can help decrease costs and reduce patient stress.

An experienced physician who supports the nurses and other staff can dramatically reduce ER visits for common medical issues like pneumonia, infections, and bed sores. As a result, this can help to alleviate patients’ anxiety and improve their overall quality of life. Working with an in-house doctor can help to expand healthcare options and increase overall satisfaction and healthcare outcomes for residents. Dr. Spears’ background includes years as an HMO administrator, so he understands how nursing homes and assisted living facilities are structured. And, he understands the importance of supporting nurses and staff members -- the front-line caregivers -- to help improve residents’ healthcare outcomes.